Animorphs 2020: The Visitor
by WritingZard
Summary: Continuation of my fanfic series. Rachel was a normal girl until the Yeerks invaded. Now, she and her friends must wage a guerilla war until the Andalites arrive to save humanity. But it appears at least one has already landed. Sequel to Animorphs 2020: The Invasion.
1. Chapter 1: My Name is Rachel

My name is Rachel.

Her name is Cassie.

Cassie is my best friend in the world. She's like a sister to me. I love her, to the fullest extent one girl can love another while keeping everything platonic. And I'm pretty sure she feels the same about me.

But Cassie does _not_ understand clothing.

"These jeans are perfect for you, Cass." I held them up for her to see. "Crawford double-front. Durable denim, so they won't wear out for a while. Black -"

"Like me?" Cassie replied with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Black, so no one will notice when you come into class wearing chicken poop."

She was stalling. School let out half an hour ago, at three-thirty, and I was supposed to be home by six. She was trying to get me off track and frustrated. But I was determined. Cassie was going to walk out of this mall with no less than three new pairs of jeans.

Even if it killed me.

"Look, Mom just got me this credit card. It's got a thousand-dollar limit, and she told me to go nuts." I pulled two more, identical pairs of jeans off the circular rack. My parents are divorced. Mom works for a big-money law firm down in the Bay, so she's _loaded_. Sometimes I wished I lived with her instead of my dad.

"And as much as I appreciate you sharing your good fortune," Cassie said, "I don't need new clothes."

I snorted. Cassie's current jeans were worn through at the knees, covered in stains from God knows what, and ended just above the top of her boots. I looked past her. "Tobias? Help me out, here."

Tobias was standing off to the side, hands in his pockets and face directed towards the ground. That irked me. Tobias was the school geek, almost as far down the high school food chain as he could get. But, he was a fellow Animorph, so I was trying to be his friend. I figured, maybe if he was seen hanging around me, a girl, he'd be a little less of a bully magnet. So I specifically invited him to come shopping with Cassie and I today.

The least he could do was contribute to the conversation, instead of standing there looking flustered. Something about being smack in the middle of the women's section of JC Penny always makes guys act weird. Like they think they're somewhere they're not supposed to be.

Maybe it's the mannequins wearing matching underwear. I've been known to appreciate the ones on the guy's side.

Heh.

Moving on.

"Tobias!"

"You need new jeans, Cassie," he muttered obediently.

"See?" I handed her the jeans. "Tobias thinks so, too."

Cassie chuckled and refused to take the jeans. Typical. I held them up against her hip anyway. They would fit her perfectly. I tucked them under my arm and headed for the checkout counter. Cassie and Tobias followed me.

The lady at the counter gave us a fake smile. "Find everything you need?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied automatically. I passed her the jeans, the credit card, and my school ID. As she rung me up, I watched her, seeing if I could spot anything...off, about her.

You see, she might have been a Controller. A Yeerk. And the last time I'd run into one, I was stuffed into the trunk of a car, and driven off to be killed. Or, made into a Controller myself. Which would have been even worse.

What's a Yeerk? I'm glad you asked!

You see, Earth is under attack from a hostile race of aliens. A little over a month ago, a Yeerk invasion force met another race called Andalites in battle near our planet. The Andalites tried to run the Yeerks off to keep them from enslaving humanity. They failed. And ever since, the Yeerks have been running rampant all across the world.

Why haven't you seen them anywhere? Another excellent question! It's because the Yeerks aren't like you and me. They don't walk around out in the open, doing their kidnapping and murdering the polite way. Oh, no. They crawl into your head and make you do their dirty work for them.

In their natural state, the Yeerks resemble slugs. They're less than a foot long, and they're blind and deaf. Almost defenseless, they would have stayed confined to their home planet had the Andalites not taken pity on them and offered them a path to the stars. The Yeerks had previously made do with the other, barely-functioning natives of their own world, but once they met the Andalites and realized there were far superior hosts offworld, they stole an Andalite ship and went on the warpath.

How many races have they enslaved? We're not sure. There are their original hosts, the Gedds. The Skrit Na, which resemble what humans think of when we think of space aliens. Bladed, goblinoid monstrosities called Hork-Bajir. At least one Andalite. And these massive, cannibalistic, centipede-looking things we have yet to learn the names of. And now, it's our turn.

What are we doing to stop them? Well, we got lucky. A survivor of the battle, an Andalite warrior named Elfangor, crash-landed near our school. My friends and I found him. He told us all about the Yeerks, and gave us the power to fight them. The power to morph into any animal we touch.

_Any_ animal. I've only been two, so far. A dog, and a crow. But I acquired the DNA of a rattlesnake (that's what we call it, when we gain another morph) a while ago, and I've been itching to try it out.

Who's we? We're the Animorphs. There's Cassie and Tobias, who you've already met. There's Jake, my cousin and our duly elected leader. Marco, Jake's best friend and our resident asshole. He's the one who named us.

And me. Rachel. The suburban white girl that can actually kick butt when she has to.

Don't confuse me with some stuck-up valley girl. What I was talking about earlier, being stuffed into a car trunk? A Controller had accidentally discovered that Jake and I had met Elfangor, and kidnapped us at gunpoint. My other cousin and Jake's brother, Tom, tried to stop him. And the Yeerk killed him. He almost got my sister, too.

But, he didn't know we could morph. The Yeerk tossed a human girl into his car. When he opened it, I came out as a malinois. Sixty pounds of teeth and attitude. I tore him apart.

Jake took his gun and finished him off, but that didn't matter. I was the one who got us out of that jam. Me.

It was our first battle. And I won the day.

And it was awesome.

Well… not the part where Tom was killed. I mean, we weren't as close as Jake and I were. But we still grew up together. I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that he's gone forever.

And definitely not the part where he almost got Jordan. She only lived because I sent her to find help.

Still. The enemy, or at least one of them, found us. And I stomped him.

So I wasn't too worried about the Yeerk invasion. But that didn't mean I was going to act reckless. I couldn't trust anyone but my friends. Anyone could be a Controller. This checkout lady. Any of the shoppers around us.

Or Jordan. Or my dad.

Even _you_ could be a Controller.

Transaction completed, I gathered up Tobias and Cassie. I was feeling peckish, and the Cinnabon was calling me, so we started making our way over to the food court. I made Cassie carry the jeans. They were hers, after all.

Tobias started lagging behind. "I don't have any money," he told us.

I reached out and grabbed his wrist. "I'm buying. Come on."

Well, technically Mom was. But, he was still being rude. I'd have to teach Tobias about socializing like I was teaching Cassie about fashion. He was as hopeless as she was.

I was so wrapped up in thinking about Tobias, I almost missed the crowd milling outside the food court. Cassie stuck her arm out in front of Tobias and I, and stopped us from walking through them.

"What?" I asked.

She just pointed.

I followed her finger. Cassie was pointing through the crowd at a kid about our age. He was wearing a Subway uniform, minus the hat. And his shirt was on backwards.

He was standing over one of the tables in the food court. And he was doing everything he could to cram a gigantic sticky bun down his throat.

Along with the plate it was served on.


	2. Chapter 2: The Kid

"Um," Tobias said, "what is he doing?"

"Looks like he _really_ likes the Cinnabon," Cassie remarked.

"Drugs," I commented. A man next to us nodded in agreement.

Tobias leaned in close and whispered. "Or…"

He didn't have to finish. More than likely, the kid was on PCP or some shit. In which case, I had no pity for him. Only an idiot does drugs.

But, he could also be a Controller. We had no idea how Controllers looked or acted. I had imagined that they'd be indistinguishable from normal people. But, I could be wrong.

Before he died, Elfangor gave us a disk. He said it contained his personal logbook, and would tell us everything we needed to know about morphing and fighting the Yeerks. But he neglected to tell us it was encrypted, and required a password to use. We almost locked ourselves out of his logs entirely trying to guess the password. So, we were going into this war blind.

But, if this was a Controller, maybe we could capture him. Maybe we could stash him somewhere and make him tell us whatever we needed to know about the Yeerks.

A plan formed in my mind. "Follow my lead, guys."

"What?"

"Oh, no." Cassie shook her head. "No. Every time I see that look, I have to promise my parents I'll never again do whatever you pulled me into. No, ma'am. Not today."

I grinned. "Coward."

"Yep."

"Fine. Keep watch, then." I grabbed Tobias by the wrist and elbowed my way through the crowd.

The kid had figured out he wasn't going to fit the whole sticky bun into his mouth. At least, not while it was on the plate. He carefully laid the plate on the table in front of him, and lifted the sticky bun off of it. He resumed stuffing his face.

[That is so gross.] Cassie said in our heads. She was using thought-speak, a skill we had all picked up as a side effect of our new morphing abilities. It was super useful, allowing us to speak privately and silently, even when surrounded by people. We could speak to specific people, or broadcast our thoughts for everyone in range to hear.

In this case, Tobias, Cassie, and myself could communicate with each other without alerting the Controller to our presence. [Tobias, circle behind him.]

Tobias dutifully made his way out of the kid's line of sight. He went left. I went right.

[When I tell you to] I instructed, [grab his arms.]

[Got it.]

We took one step towards the Controller. Then another.

[I'm going to thought-speak at him] I told the others. [I'll say something only a Yeerk would know. If he reacts, Tobias, we're going to grab him and march him through the crowd and out to Cassie's van.]

[Why?] Cassie asked.

I ignored her. [Okay, everyone get ready.]

[We are not using my van to kidnap somebody.]

To the Controller I said, [Yeerk.]

The Controller stopped.

I tensed.

He stood straight up, and I rushed forward.

My dad is a cop. And he's overprotective. It's frustrating, sometimes, but other times, it's pretty cool. For instance, he taught my sister and I that arm lock cops like to do. You know how, in movies and on TV, when they grab a suspect, wrench their arm behind their back, and slam them down on the hood of a squad car? My dad taught us how to do that.

The Controller was on his face and choking on his sticky bun before he knew what hit him.

Because I am amazing.

He tried to get his free arm under him, but Tobias grabbed him by the wrist and pinned his arm to the table. The Controller struggled and coughed, spewing chewed-up sticky bun all over the table.

Someone started clapping.

[Ew] Cassie offered.

A woman stepped out of the crowd. Tobias held a hand up. "It's alright," he told her. "We've got this."

[Come with us] I said. [Nice and easy.]

[Unhand me.]

I looked over at Tobias. Tobias was focused on the Controller. The thought-speaking Controller.

[Guys, he just -]

_Riiiiiiip!_

"Look out!"

"What the…"

"What is that?!"

Cassie shouted at me, [Rachel, let him go!]

I shoved hard, and pushed myself away from the Controller. Tobias dropped his arm like a hot pan and backpedaled as far from the Controller as he could get. I saw a flicker of motion to my right and ducked. A sharp, bony blade swept through the air where my neck had been.

A blade attached to a long, whip-like tail. A tail covered in blue fur.

I knew that tail. I'd once seen it cut an entire arm off at the shoulder.

It was the tail of an -

"Andalite!"

The woman Tobias warned off reached into her purse, and drew a gun. She aimed it at the kid with the Andalite tail. He ducked under the table.

_BLAM! BLAM!_

Holy shit, that was loud! You hear gunfire on TV and you think, "Oh, cool, guns!" But movies and Netflix don't prepare you for the noise.

The crowd started screaming and took off. "Shooter!" someone shouted. "Active shooter!" I heard more screaming further back.

[Cassie, run!]

[What about you?!]

[We'll catch up! Tobias, morph!]

Tobias went under a table. I vaulted over the Cinnabon counter and crouched behind it. I carefully raised my head over the counter so I could watch the woman with the gun.

The woman, obviously a Controller, advanced on the table the Andalite was under. It looked less like a kid, now. The "kid" was growing blue fur and an extra pair of legs.

"Die, Anda -"

That unholy tail got her in the ankles, knocking her to the ground. I saw a foot in a shoe go flying across the food court. She started screaming

The tail raised up and came down on her head.

She stopped screaming.

The table flipped over, and the Andalite stood up. He looked just like Elfangor had. Andalites resemble centaurs, but they have seven fingers on each hand, and an extra pair of eyes swiveling on stalks on top of their heads. Slits for noses, no mouths at all, and a tail twice as long as their bodies and sporting that wicked blade.

I looked around. No one else was in the food court but us and Tobias. I decided to try talking to it.

[Hey!]

All four eyes turned towards me.

I waved. [Yeah, me! The girl. Listen, there's going to be cops crawling all over this place in about five minutes. We need to leave. Can you -]

The Andalite turned away from me, and ran out into the mall.


	3. Chapter 3: The Plan

[Stop!]

But the Andalite wasn't interested in stopping. He ignored me completely and left the food court.

Asshole.

[Cassie!] I shouted. [Tobias!]

[On him.]

From the table Tobias had ducked under, a bird shook itself out of a pile of Tobias' clothes. A hawk, to be specific. With a red tail.

[I'll follow him] Tobias said to me.

[See if you can get him to morph human again] I told him. [We can't have the cops seeing an Andalite. They'll kill him, Controllers or not.]

[Got it.] Tobias hopped onto a chair, flapped his wings, and he was gone.

No word from Cassie. It was very likely that she couldn't hear me. We've learned that thought-speak has a limited range, and the mall was pretty big.

All I could hope for was that she got out of the mall before the cops locked it down. My school did active shooter drills, so I knew the SOP. The police would surround the mall, set up a perimeter to keep people from coming in or out, and then a SWAT team would enter the mall to hunt down the shooter. We had minutes before they showed up.

Tobias could find the Andalite, but he couldn't stop him from running off again. We needed the Andalite. Maybe he'd know how to unlock Elfangor's disk. We couldn't lose him.

I needed something that could catch up to the Andalite and, if need be, drop him and force him to listen to me. My bird and snake morphs were not up to the job. But my malinois might be.

My dad was part of a K9 unit. He was assigned a malinois named Chance. Chance was the first morph I acquired. The first of us all.

I quickly pulled off my clothes. If there was a way to morph without destroying clothing, we had yet to discover it. I closed my eyes and concentrated.

Morphing isn't all that complicated. You just acquire an animal, picture it in your mind, and then concentrate. In a matter of seconds, your body will twist and mold itself into the morph you chose. You expect it to hurt, always. But it never does.

The first change that came over me was the fur. Short, course fur sprouted from my hands, arms, and chest. It spread to every part of my body.

My arms and legs started bending to form dog legs, and my hands and feet scrunched up into adorable little paws. Dull, thick claws grew from my new toes. They would give me more traction as I ran, and help me grip whatever I pounced.

My ears extended and tapered, and rose up to the top of my head. My face bulged out and out and out, and I felt my teeth multiply in my new set of jaws. My vision went from seeing lots of colors to seeing less.

Then my nose kicked into gear, and finally, the dog's instincts mingled with my own.

**HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOYHAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY** -

I was familiar with this sensation. The first time I morphed Chance, I walked around my room just sniffing and exploring. The second time, I morphed in front of Jake, and went nuts over an old baseball.

But I wasn't just any dog. I was an attack dog. Malinois were _trained_ to follow directions, but they were _bred_ to maim. Underneath all the normal doggie borks and bluster was the genetically modified mind of one nasty, protective, territorial beast. I nearly bit Jake's head off when he tried to take his baseball back from me before I managed to clamp down that part of Chance's personality.

I was designed to seek and destroy. Find the target. Run down the target. Then, pounce and force it to the ground. And finish it off.

But right now, I needed the nose and speed more than the claws and teeth. I leapt onto the counter and sniffed the air, looking for a smell I couldn't recognize.

I smelled the sugary frosting of sticky buns, still cooling on metal pans in the kitchen behind me.

I smelled the fear-sweat BO left behind by the many shoppers who had fled the food court.

I smelled the coppery odor of fresh blood oozing from the dead Controller.

And I smelled…

...something like a horse covered in ranch dressing?

_Bingo._

I felt the malinois' instincts perk up. Chance had just found something all dogs, big and small, crave more than anything else on this Earth.

Something to chase!

_Go get him, boy!_

I barked and jumped off the counter. My nails went _clickety-clack_ across the floor as I sped out of the food court at twenty-something miles per hour.

I barked again. Barking is fun, and dead people are not. Besides, Chance liked barking.

Rachel may have been nervous, stressed out and agitated, but Chance was having a heckin' good time.

_Chasechasechasechasechase_!

The mall, thankfully, was empty. The people who hadn't fled the "active shooter" were hiding like they were supposed to. [Tobias! Cassie!]

[I hear you.]

Cassie. Good. [Where are you?]

[The pet store on the second floor] she told me.

That was perfect! I had hoped that we could get the Andalite to remorph and walk it out of here as a human, but there was a small chance someone had told the cops that we were involved and gave them a description of us. Hiding would be less risky, and I couldn't imagine a better place to hide a morpher than a pet store.

Now we just had to get the Andalite there. [Tobias!] I shouted. [I'm on my way!]

[Good] he answered from wherever. [We're just by the entrance.] Pause. [Lots of guns out there.]

Terrific. [I'm coming.]

I ran down the walkway, past potted plants and saplings, and found the Andalite standing just inside the mall foyer. I could see red and blue lights winking on and off outside.

I barked. The Andalite's stalk eyes looked back at me. He kept his main eyes on the police congregating outside. Tobias was perched on one of the saplings.

[Well, this is a pickle] I said brightly.

[You have a plan for getting us out of here, Rachel?]

[Sort of.] I looked at the Andalite. Maybe it would be smart to keep my distance. So far, I'd met three different aliens, and all three had instantly tried to kill me.

Maybe that said something about me.

Oh, well.

[Hey! What was all that, back there? Why'd you take off like that?]

[You said we had to leave] the Andalite replied. [So I left.]

[He's got you there] Tobias whispered to me.

Great. First, he tries to cut my head clean off. Now, he sasses me. Maybe there _is_ something about me. [Okay. Listen up.]

The Andalite focused on me. That was better. [Any second now, a bunch of guys with guns are going to bust in here and try to kill you. So you need to do exactly what I say. Okay?]

The Andalite was quiet. [Okay?] I said again.

[I follow no orders but those of my prince.]

[Oh, for fuck's sake.]

[We really don't have time for this] Tobias said to the Andalite.

[You said his name.] Now the Andalite turned completely around to face me. [Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. You said his name.]

[Yes, I did.]

[But you are not Andalite.]

[No, I'm not.]

[But you know my prince.]

I both physically and mentally rolled my eyes. [Yes, I did.]

[Did?]

[How about this?] Tobias dropped to the floor between us. [You come with us. Let us hide you. And while we're all hiding, we'll tell you all about Prince Elfangor. Deal?]

The Andalite looked at him. [You are not Andalite, either.]

[Do we have a deal?] I asked him.

The Andalite hesitated. [Yes] he finally said.

[Okay.] Tobias took to the air. [Where are we going?]

[Second floor.] I followed him. [To the pet store.]

[What is a 'pet store?'] the Andalite asked me.

[It is a place where, um, humans buy animals] I answered. [It's full of creatures you can morph and hide yourself among.]

The Andalite trotted alongside me. [Clever.]

[I thought so, too.]

We made it to the escalator. The Andalite paused.

[No, it's fine.] I walked past him and sat on a stair just as it came up off the floor. [Like this.] Tobias flew over our heads.

[Ah. I see.] He was too big to simply sit on a stair, like I was, but he planted his front feet on one and allowed it to carry him for a short distance, before stepping on another a few steps below it. We got up to the second level without difficulty. I led the way to the pet store.

There wasn't much to look at. There weren't dogs and cats, but smaller animals like rabbits and guinea pigs. I looked around. [Cassie, where are you?]

I saw a snake poke its head out from underneath a shelf of pet supplies. [Yo.]


	4. Chapter 4: The Rattlesnake

[Okay, quickly now.] I looked back at the Andalite and panted. [Pick something and morph it.]

[Grab a rat] Tobias suggested. [You can hide under something and we could carry you out with us, later.]

[Good idea.] I looked down at Cassie. Tobias and I already had snake morphs, so we could hide like Cassie was. I started demorphing.

[Which ones are a 'rat?']

[The big brown things in the back.] Tobias landed and also started demorphing. The Andalite walked towards the back of the store.

I focused on turning my back to Tobias. We've all accepted that we can't morph clothes, but that didn't mean I was giving Tobias a free show. And he didn't seem the type that was comfortable with getting checked out, either.

I looked over at the Andalite. He was standing by the rat cages. But, he wasn't acquiring a rat. He had pulled a rabbit from one of the cages underneath them.

"No, not that one!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whirled around, and Tobias clapped a hand over my mouth. [Shut up! Listen.]

I shoved him away. [Get off!]

But, I heard what he heard. The sound of heavy footsteps echoing through the mall.

Lots of footsteps.

[What's going on?] Cassie asked in a panicky voice. [I'm feeling vibrations.]

[SWAT team's here] I told her. I took the rabbit from the Andalite, locked it back up, and reached around him to grab a rat cage. But I tripped on one of his hooves, and dropped it. It landed with a loud crash. The lid flew off, and the rat inside bolted.

Great. SWAT definitely heard that.

[Oh, _that_] the Andalite said. [I acquired one of them before coming to this place.]

[Great! Morph it.] I looked at Tobias. His arms were already growing scales. I closed my eyes and concentrated.

Rattlesnake.

My arms just shriveled up and disappeared. Like when you set a leaf or a piece of paper on fire. Nails, fingers, hands, elbows, all of it just collapsed and pulled themselves inside of my body.

But as gross as that was, my legs were worse. They twisted together like spaghetti noodles and turned into a thrashing tail. I fell forward on my stomach and crushed the rat cage underneath myself.

I had enough presence of mind to twist around to look back at the Andalite, to make sure he was morphing. His body was melting away into something that vaguely resembled a rat. But I realized I had turned around too easily. My neck had grown longer.

My body was nothing more than a six foot tube of skin, bone, and organs.

Then, scales rippled into existence across my body, like water running over rocks. They ended at my tail and formed into the large, flaky bumps that comprised my morph's signature rattle.

My body shrank and thinned into that of the snake's. I felt my teeth suddenly turn mushy. They became puffy, like gangrenous gums.

And then I felt something growing inside my mouth. My fangs. They grew and curled back up against the roof of my mouth.

Rattlesnake fangs aren't like those of other venomous snakes. They are actually too long to stay locked into place, so they fold up when the snake closes its mouth. They spring forward when the snake strikes, and then fold back along the snakes' lower jaw.

Above those fangs, up in my mouth, grew my venom sacs. My fangs worked like hypodermic needles. They pierced flesh, and my venom sacs sent a nerve poison through them that could kill a mouse in seconds. A cat within minutes. A healthy, grown man within hours.

From between those fangs, a forked tongue whipped out. It tasted the air, then shot back into my mouth.

It was like smelling things as a dog, only...not. When you smell something, you're actually inhaling small bits of it. Very small. And I could taste what I smelled. I was tasting the individual molecules that made up all the odors of my environment.

Think about that, the next time you're in a public restroom.

My sight was okay. It showed more color than my dog eyes had. But the snake eyes focused more on movement than anything.

In addition, I felt a new sense. Something I hadn't experienced before. Like...I registered that the floor was cooler than the rest of the room. And that the Andalite, now completely rat, was warmer than the floor.

I could sense heat. But, not like I could as a human, by standing near a hot stove. I knew that the Andalite, the rat in front of me, was warmer than Tobias in his rattlesnake morph, behind me.

Very cool.

My hearing was shot, though. Snakes don't have external ears. But I could feel fine. And I could feel the same vibrations Cassie must have felt. The SWAT team was getting closer.

And that's when the snake's own mind appeared within my consciousness.

In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves, _whoa._

When I was Chance, I was emotional. When I morphed a bird, a crow, I was calculating. Mischievous, even.

The rattlesnake wasn't anywhere near those. This thing was...calm. But the kind of calm where you know that you're the baddest person in the room. Like I was Dwayne Johnson in a movie with Kevin Hart.

Rachel felt the footsteps, and grew worried and anxious. The snake felt the footsteps, acknowledged them, and decided it would be best to get under cover. Not because it was scared. It just seemed like the appropriate course of action. Because the snake knew that nobody in their right mind screwed with it. If they did, it would warn them off with the rattle. If they kept bothering it, well, that's what the fangs were for.

I gazed over the rattlesnake's field of fucks, and saw that it was barren.

Let the SWAT team come. They were of no concern.

[Time to motor] Tobias told us. [We need to get out of sight.]

[Yes] the Andalite said. [Some of those humans might be Controllers. They will know to be on the look out for out-of-place morphs, if they're aware they are hunting an Andalite.]

The Andalite scurried towards a shelf. He intended to hide underneath it.

He was a rat.

Rats are food.

I struck him in the side.


	5. Chapter 5: The Andalite

Fortunately for the Andalite, Rachel the girl was still able to keep the snake in check. Rachel the girl knew that rattlesnakes could choose whether or not to use their venom, and murdering an Andalite was _not_ how she wanted to end her shopping trip.

I managed to keep myself from poisoning him. He crammed himself under the shelf, the only rat to ever survive being bit by a rattlesnake.

[Rachel! Get a grip!]

[What? What did she do?]

[Were you attempting to ingest me?]

[No. Sorry.] I followed the Andalite underneath the shelf. [It was a reflex. First time morphing this thing.]

[What'd she do?] Cassie asked again.

[Did you lose control of your morph?] the Andalite asked me.

[You're fine] I grumbled.

[You could have killed him!] Tobias shouted from his hiding spot.

[Did you bite the Andalite?] Cassie asked. [Seriously, Rachel?]

[Can everyone just chill, please?]

More vibrations. Heavier vibrations.

[The SWAT team's here] I repeated.

[Good] Tobias said dryly. [Lets hope they don't stick around.]

I watched three sets of boots stomp by the shelf. They completely ignored the busted-up cage.

Good. That meant they probably weren't Controllers.

[I will keep track of how long we have been in morph.] the Andalite announced.

[Why does that matter?] Tobias asked him.

[You…] The Andalite stopped. [It doesn't.]

I angled my head so I could see him. [Kind of sounds like it does.]

[I am not permitted to share information with you concerning my people or our technology.]

[Say what now?]

[And, if you'll forgive me for saying so] he continued, [your people are obviously not advanced enough to have developed morphing technology on their own.]

[Why can't you tell us?] Cassie asked him. I decided to let her talk to him. Cassie tends to be better with people than me, and the Andalite was starting to tick me off.

[I am not permitted to share that information, either.]

Of course.

[Didn't stop Elfangor] Tobias told him.

Long silence.

He must not have liked that.

[I am not Prince Elfangor] he finally said.

[Can you tell us who you are?] Cassie asked.

Another long silence.

[Maybe this would be easier] he said, [if you told me what you already know.]

[We know your people were the ones who set the Yeerks loose on the galaxy] I said.

[Is that why?] Cassie asked him. [Did the Andalites decide they shouldn't share their knowledge with anyone else?]

[Yes] the Andalite said.

[That's...probably fair] I conceded.

[We're not interested in starships at the moment, anyway] Tobias assured him.

[Tell you what] Cassie told the Andalite. [Why don't you only tell us what we should know. As it concerns us. You don't have to give us ships or weapons or anything.]

[I cannot] he said firmly.

[Listen, you -]

[Fair enough] Cassie said, cutting me off. [You don't know us, and we attacked you in the first place.

[Trust is earned] Tobias said, [and we haven't done anything to earn it.]

[Precisely] Cassie agreed.

[Where are you guys going with this?] I asked them privately.

I felt Cassie mentally shrug. [Maybe if we show we're willing to let him keep his secrets, he'll realize we're not like the Yeerks.]

[Maybe?]

[He's an alien, Rachel, I'm only guessing.]

The boots came back. The SWAT team swept the store again and left.

[They must be getting frustrated] Tobias observed.

[Well, they definitely found the Controller in the food court] I said. [So they know something's up.]

[Maybe they'll decide a good Samaritan took out the shooter] Tobias hoped.

[Should we wait some more?] Cassie asked. [Or morph birds and try flying out?]

[Can you morph anything with wings?] I asked the Andalite.

[I have one] he replied. [But it is not native to your planet.]

[Never mind, then.]

[Oooh!] Cassie exclaimed excitedly. [Is it an animal of your homeworld?]

More silence.

[Rude] I told him.

[As I said, I cannot -]

[How about we try a deal?] Tobias asked him. [An exchange of information.]

The Andalite said nothing. But, I liked Tobias' idea. [We'll call it a trust exercise] I told the Andalite. [We give you something you want. Or need. And then you can give us information that you feel is of equal value.]

Nothing.

[You can just show me your alien morph] Cassie suggested. [I would very much like to see it.]

[And that shouldn't violate your Prime Directive or whatever] I added. [Right?]

[I do not know of any 'Prime Directive,'] he said carefully. [But, I do not think there would be any harm in showing that specific morph to you.]

[That's progress] Tobias commented.

[In exchange] the Andalite continued, [I ask that you assist me in safely exiting this building, and meet with me elsewhere to tell me of Prince Elfangor.]

[We can do that] I said instantly.

[And then we can go from there] Cassie finished.

[Go where?]

[It's just an expression] Tobias explained. [It means, we'll see how our relationship progresses from that point forward.]

[Do humans have many such expressions?]

[We have another one we're fond of] I said. ['The enemy of my enemy is my friend.']

[And you are hoping we can be...friends?]

[Yes] Cassie affirmed.

[Do you fight the Yeerks?]

[We wish to] Tobias answered. [And we won't say no to any help you can give us.]

[We will see how our relationship progresses] the Andalite responded.

That was probably as far as we'd get with him today. I supposed I couldn't blame him. If I found myself in his situation, on an alien planet with invisible enemies and people hitting me up for my secrets, I imagine I'd be pretty locked down, too.

[I do have one question] he said. [Will you answer it truthfully?]

[Sure] Cassie said.

[How did you gain the ability to morph?]

[Your prince] I answered simply.

[He told us of the Yeerks, and your people's history with them] Cassie added. [We wanted to fight for our world. So he gave us the means to do so.]

[Prince Elfangor gave you our technology?]

[Yes.]

[He should not have done that] the Andalite said. [I'm sure he had his reasons. But…]

[But he did it anyway] Tobias said.

['The enemy of my enemy,'] the Andalite quoted slowly, ['is my friend.']

[Exactly] I told him.

[I'm Cassie, by the way.]

[Tobias] Tobias said.

_Sure, Cassie, I guess it's safe to introduce ourselves._ [And I'm Rachel.]

[I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.]

If I had eyelids, I would have blinked in surprise. We knew that name.

The first bit, anyway. Elfangor, in his final moments, had worried for his family. He had said that his parents would never know what happened to him and his brother. The brother who had been shot down trying to protect him.

Aximili.

This Andalite was probably the sole survivor of the Andalite fleet the Yeerks demolished in orbit.

[Pleased to meet you, Ax] I said to him.

Three more sets of boots came stomping through.

[Again?] Cassie groaned.

They stopped in front of the shattered cage on the floor.

New vibrations. Light, soft buzzing.

[Sounds like they're talking] Tobias explained. Rattlesnake was his first morph, so he had a touch more experience in it than us.

[They are discussing the cage] Ax translated. Pause. [They found the Controller downstairs. They suspect, correctly, there is an Andalite in the building.]

Pause.

[They have decided on a course of action.]

Light flashed across the floor, to the toon of a heavier, more audible buzz.

Objects the size of cars came through the shelf and left craters in the floor behind us.

[Jesus!]

[They are shooting the cages] Ax explained calmly.


	6. Chapter 6: The Experience

I was mildly surprised to find that the vibrations came in sets of three. I read later that one of the standard-issue weapons for SWAT teams was the M4A1 assault rifle, which could only fire single shots or three-round bursts. Not the continuous streams of death you see in old action movies.

To my snakey "ears," they sounded like a smartphone buzzing on top of a table. It was almost comical.

Being shot at, however, was not.

_Now_ the snake was concerned.

[We need to move!] Tobias shouted.

[Where?] Cassie shouted back. [If we go out -]

But I'd already seen where. There was exactly one place we could go where they wouldn't shoot at us.

I hoped.

[Tobias, follow me. Ax, demorph!]

I started slithering.

There was a boot directly in front of me. I think that the pant legs of the SWAT uniform were supposed to be tucked in the boots, but I could see where some of the leg had been pulled up out of the boot and left an opening. I could feel his body heat seeping from it.

I raised my head up and forced myself through the opening.

The cop felt it. I felt a long, continuous buzz.

[The human is panicking.] Ax told us.

Too late. I went up their leg, twisting and turning through their leg hairs.

Something slammed my midsection. It hurt. I didn't like that. The snake didn't, either.

I spread my jaws and sank my fangs into their thigh.

And I didn't hold back.

"Aaaaah!!"

The cop screamed so loud, even the snake heard it. I felt the gunfire stop. I continued up into their shirt.

[Right behind you, Rachel!] Tobias called after me.

[Bite 'em!]

[The humans are running to assist their comrade.]

[Cassie, now's your chance!] I shouted.

[I'm leaving. I'm out!]

I bit the cop in the belly and emptied my venom sacs into them. [Find somewhere safe and morph bird!]

Six sudden buzzes. A hammer-blow at the center of my body.

A sudden wetness spreading all around me.

Pain. I was hurt.

Turns out a 5.56mm round is more than enough to cut a rattlesnake in half.

The snake thrashed, finally panicking.

I felt the cop shudder underneath me. The belly went from being next to me, to being under me.

Daylight. Someone had ripped the cop's shirt and armor off.

The hand of God reached down, and yanked what was left of me out from my hiding spot.

I bit. Hard. But I had no venom. All I did was puncture skin.

A blue blur of motion. More sticky wetness.

And then, I was falling.

I landed on cold linoleum.

Smaller, bluer hands picked me up.

I felt wind rushing over me for what seemed like forever. I noticed my tail was missing.

The world stopped. I dropped heavily on carpet.

[Rachel, demorph!]

Good plan.

Easier said than done, though. My brain was going fuzzy.

[Demorph, Rachel! Come on!]

[Rachel!]

Why was everyone shouting? I was right here.

I could see myself. Half a snake bleeding out on the floor.

Dying.

Oh.

Well, that's not good.

Then...panic!

[That's it, Rachel, you're doing it!]

I erupted from the snake's body, covered in blood and screaming.

A strong hand clamped down on my mouth. I felt a warm body behind me.

I fought.

[Rachel, stop!]

Slowly, like I was waking from a dream, I calmed down. The world came back into focus. I became aware that I was in one of the JC Penny dressing rooms.

Tobias let go of me. I stood up.

There was a rat sitting next to a crow on the bench. Ax and Cassie.

I looked down at myself, whole, healthy, and still wearing the snake's blood and somebody else's. I saw a bloody stain on the carpet the size of my hand.

The snake's blood. My blood.

Where I had lain dying barely a minute before.

I looked at Tobias. "Wait here."

I morphed dog and crawled under the door.

No SWAT teams in sight. They must have all gone upstairs to check the commotion. I raced over to the men's section and grabbed Tobias a shirt and cargo pants. I had Cassie fly back up to the pet store and steal a dog collar.

Then, Tobias and I crawled under the same circular clothing rack we got Cassie's jeans from. He stuffed Ax and Cassie in his pockets and started shouting for help.

SWAT showed up within seconds.

Tobias, thank God, played the part of traumatized mallrat perfectly. SWAT took him to the atrium, where they were keeping everyone else they'd found hiding in the mall. Just another "survivor" and his pet dog.

The SWAT team kept their voices low, but dog ears miss nothing. I heard them mutter about the cop who'd gone crazy upstairs. Guy said there were snakes in his clothes, and started shooting at his own team. They were forced to kill him.

We were marched out with other shoppers. Tobias covered his face and managed to avoid getting on CNN. Cassie and Ax bailed in the parking lot once Tobias was off camera. I slipped back into the mall, stuffed our clothes and phones into a shopping bag, and met everyone at Cassie's van.

"That was -"

"Don't," I interrupted Cassie. I passed her the bag. Her new jeans were in it. "Just don't."

While we dressed, Ax demorphed, then morphed into a coyote. He watched us silently. When we were finished, he said, [I have seen a complex in the center of this settlement, where young humans such as yourselves are known to congregate for many hours of the day. Do you know of it?]

That took us a minute. "Are you talking about the school?" Tobias asked him.

[I believe it to be a center of learning, yes.]

"Did you want to meet there?" Cassie crossed her arms. "It's pretty public."

[I believe it will be easier to avoid discovery than it was at this facility.]

"Wouldn't have seen you if you didn't freak in the food court," I pointed out. I wasn't in the mood to argue, though. I just wanted to get home and pass out on my bed.

[I was unprepared] Ax said primly.

"School is fine," Tobias said. "If you know when we...congregate, do you know when we go home? Can you meet us by the football field?"

[Is that grassy area with the forked structures?]

"Yes."

[That should be adequate.] Ax thought to himself for a moment. [Yes. Please gather any other allies you have and meet me underneath the raised seating. I will be in this morph when you arrive.]

[It's a date.]

Ax turned to leave. Stopped.

[You almost lost your life saving my own] he said to me.

Cassie was watching me. I simply nodded in response.

[You and your allies risked yourselves on my behalf.] Ax trotted off. [I will do my best to honor your efforts.]

Well, that was something, at least. We climbed into Cassie's van, and she drove us home.

I still made to the house before six.

Because I'm amazing.


	7. Chapter 7: The Sister

"...And for those of you just tuning in, we are live at the -"

I came home to Wolf Blitzer. CNN was blaring on the kitchen TV as my sister Jordan watched, seated at the table with her phone in front of her. From my angle, I could see a picture of us over my phone number.

I felt a pang of guilt. Of course my family was looking for me. I told Jordan I was taking Cassie to the mall after school. But even after rescuing Ax, I never checked my phone.

Dad might actually kill me this time.

Nah. Mom would sue him into a crackhouse.

I cleared my throat. Jordan jumped a mile. And then, the tears and hugging started.

"Oh my God, Rachel!"

"Hi, Jordan."

Jordan grabbed my upper arms and held me out in front of her. "'Hi?''

I waved. She let go of me, looking confused. I shrugged. "It's been a day."

Jordan pointed at the TV. "You call that a day?"

"Are you mad?"

"Mad? I'm _livid_." She grabbed her phone and held it up to my face. "I called you twenty-eight times. Twenty-fucking-eight. Dad is frantic. He is down at the mall, right now Trying to do his job and look for you at the same time. And you didn't so much as text us!"

"Jordan -"

"We thought you were dead!"

Not for lack of trying. Out loud, I said, "Jordan, I'm fine."

"And then you just walk in and say, 'Hi!' like you were just out having a good time!"

I waved again. Jordan looked at me like she wanted to slap me. So I gave her a fake smile and hugged her. "I'm fine," I told her. "I'm sorry I worried you."

Jordan returned the hug. After a few moments. I let go when she did. "Did you make dinner?" I asked. It was Jordan's turn tonight, and after my misadventure at the mall, I was hungry.

"No," Jordan said simply. "Are you hungry?"

"Famished."

"Okay." Jordan looked me up and down. If she noticed the blood, she said nothing. "I think Dad bought some of those Red Baron mini-pizzas yesterday. Does that sound good?"

I nodded. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"I'll bring one up to you."

I cocked my head. Jordan was usually pretty big on us eating together. But, I had no complaints. I wasn't feeling too social, anyway. I left the kitchen and went upstairs.

My phone started buzzing. There was a text from Jake. I ignored it and hopped into the shower. Twenty minutes of hot water did nothing to change the fact I'd been blown apart less than an hour before, but it helped. I went back to my room and found a steaming pizza on a paper plate. That helped even more.

I went back downstairs to thank Jordan. She was still in the kitchen, talking on her phone with her back to me.

"Yeah, Dad, she's acting exactly the same way…"

Oh. They were on that again.

When I was little, six or seven, back when Mom and Dad were still together, there was an older kid that used to bully Jordan and me. He pushed Jordan one day, and that made me mad. So I picked up a rock and hit him with it. Hard. I busted up his face pretty bad.

Mom and Dad were mad, obviously. But I never saw what the big deal was, and to this day, I still didn't. But for a while afterward, they took me to see a shrink in town. A guy I remembered as Mr. Edelman. He made me talk about hitting the kid, and how I felt when I was mad about something. But that stopped after the divorce.

But every so often, if I was in trouble for something, sometimes Dad or Jordan would talk about it. Never to me, though. Just each other. And I think with Aunt Naomi. Jake's mom, my aunt on Dad's side.

But never to me.

I went back upstairs. Jake and Cassie never talked about me with each other. And we needed to tell Jake and Marco about Ax.


	8. Chapter 8: The Fuck-Ups

I went back to my room, threw on a shirt, then flopped down on my bed. On the nightstand, my phone buzzed again. I picked it up, unlocked it, and checked my text messages. There were three.

From Jake.** Make any new friends today**

Cassie must have gone to bring Jake up to speed after dropping me off. If I knew Jake, by now he was at Marco's house doing the same to him.

There was a Facebook notification. I had two friend requests, from Tobias and Marco.

And, also from Marco, an invite to a group chat titled, "The Usual Fuck-Ups."

I snorted. I accepted Tobias' friend request, declined Marco's, and joined the group chat.

Jake, Marco, and Cassie had started talking without me. I scrolled up to the top of the conversation to catch up and started reading.

**So**, Marco started.

**So**, Jake answered.

**So**? Marco asked.

**So**, Jake replied.

"Good talk," I said to myself, and scrolled down.

**Met the new kid today**, Cassie said.** He's cool! He's a foreign exchange student.**

Oh, we were speaking in code. Good. I was wondering whether it was safe to talk about Ax on Messenger. We hadn't seen anything saying there were Yeerks working for Facebook, but that didn't mean there weren't. When your enemy can actually be anybody, anywhere, it paid to be paranoid.

After all, that nice lady at the food court might be a Controller with a handgun.

**How foreign**, Jake asked her.

**VERY**, Cassie replied.

**That IS cool**, Marco said. **Is he nice**

That was the end of the chat, so far. I decided to reply. He hates dogs, I texted. Seeing as how I was the only one of us with a dog morph, hopefully Jake and Marco would understand my meaning.

**Sounds like a dick**, Jake said.

**He is alright**, Tobias countered.

**He *really* hates dogs**, I texted.

**How much**, Jake asked me.

**In his country**, I answered, **they slaughter dogs in public**

**DISLIKE**, Marco said instantly.

**That's a myth**, Cassie said. **I looked it up. He's not going to murder your dog, Rachel.**

**He could**, I said defiantly.

**He can't sit with us**, Marco said in support.

**Lol**, Tobias said. **Are we the cool kids now**

**Chance would eat him**, Cassie told me.

Probably true. If I watched the tail and came in fast enough, I could probably take down Ax if we had to. **He's really secretive, tho**

**He's just shy**, Cassie said.

**Like a serial killer?** Marco asked.

**Like a kid with no friends**, Cassie told him. That got a thumbs-up from Tobias.

**I don't like people with secrets**, I said.

**Stranger danger**, Marco agreed.

**I was hoping he could help with my calculus homework**, Cassie said. Cassie wanted to work with him.

**He also seems like he'd be good with computers**, Tobias supplied.

So Tobias thought Ax could unlock the disk for us, too. I initially did, too. But why would he? That would definitely go against whatever said Ax wasn't allowed to give us anything.

**If he's a bad dude**, Marco asked, **why would he want anything to do with us**

**Someone got in his face today**, Cassie said. **Rachel told the guy to step off**

**Rachel no**, Marco said to me.

I frowned. **Rachel YES**

**I prefer meeting people before I judge them**, Jake said suddenly.

**Lolwut**. Marco, obviously.

**Let's hang out with him tomorrow**, Jake continued. **See if the new kid is cool**

**How do we know he's not a terrorist or something**, Marco asked us.

**Wow**, Tobias replied.

**He's not**, Cassie responded. **He said ISIS killed his brother a month or so back**.

**Oh**, Marco said simply.

Yeah. Marco was the most reluctant of our little group, but even he respected what Prince Elfangor did for us.

**Yeah**, Tobias said to him. **OH**.

**Sounds like cool kid material**, Jake said. He sounded like he believed it, too, even through text.

Fearless Leader had spoken. We were meeting with Ax.

Why was I not okay with that?

Okay, yeah, he almost killed me. But that was the heat of the moment, and Ax stopped the second I told him I was a friend. He was a soldier behind enemy lines, so his reaction to me JUMPING HIM was completely understandable. Wasn't I musing not ten minutes ago that in this fight, paranoia was practically a requirement?

_Then why are you asking yourself why you're paranoid?_

_Great, now I'm talking to myself._

There was no need to be worried about Ax. Even if he didn't want to give us information, he had offered to meet with us. Ax was taking a risk, just like us, in hopes of acquiring new allies. This couldn't do anything other than help everyone involved. No one was going to get hurt.

_Until you get shot again._

_So, don't get shot._

_Because that worked so well the last time._

My phone buzzed again. **Let's try and get together more**, Jake said in the group chat. **Texting is exhausting**

**Agreed**, Marco said.

**Might be difficult**, Tobias said. **I do not get a lot of free time.**

**Make time**, Jake told him.

**You're always welcome at my place**, Cassie said.

, Marco commented.

**I'll try**, Tobias replied.

**I gotta crash**, I announced.

**Later**, Marco said.

**See you tomorrow!** Cassie replied.

Tobias just sent a hand-wave emoji. **Good night, cuz**, Jake said.

**Ttyl**, I answered. I set my phone down and laid back on my bed.

The pizza Jordan made me was right next to me. It was no longer steaming. I picked it up and went downstairs to warm it up. I put it in the microwave and stood in front of it, arms crossed as I watched the pizza spin.

Why did Ax make me nervous?


	9. Chapter 9: The Dissimulation

I had some pretty vivid nightmares that night. I dreamt that I never dodged Ax's tail in the food court. I dreamt that he cut me in half as a dog and left me bleeding out on the floor, both parts twitching as Cassie screamed for me to morph out. When I tried, I turned into a rattlesnake, but still cut in half.

I _never_ had nightmares before. I got barely any sleep, and woke up the next morning dreading going to school.

I suppose I could have just stayed home. I could have said I was traumatized, or something like that, from the shooting at the mall yesterday (_That was only yesterday? Seriously?_). But Dad and Jordan were talking about me enough and I didn't want to give them more reason to. So there I was, seven a.m., sitting at the bus stop with Jake and Jordan.

Just a couple weeks ago, it had been Jake, Jordan and Tom. But now...

_No. We're thinking good thoughts, today._

Bus ride. Homeroom. Math. English. World Civ. Lunch.

Lunch was PB&J, chips, and a bottle of water. Like you care.

I was feeling...unhappy? I dunno. I just knew that I didn't want to sit alone. I saw Jake leaving the lunch line and moved to follow him, but veered away when I saw him heading towards a table with Marco and two kids from the basketball team. And Cassie usually spent lunch starting or finishing homework, which could make her no fun to talk to. And I wanted someone to talk to.

Aha! There was Tobias, sitting alone at a corner table. He was munching on an apple and reading a book. I plopped down across from him and checked the title. _The Fellowship of the Ring._

"Hi!"

"Hi?"

I cocked my head. "Is this seat taken?"

He looked confused. Like he couldn't believe I'd sit with him. "No?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

He just stared at me. I started unpacking my lunch. "How's it going?" I said conversationally.

"Um." He put _Fellowship_ down. "Good?"

I unwrapped my sandwich and took a bite. "Good."

He kept staring at me. I kept eating.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Okay."

"Good."

I continued attacking my sandwich. Tobias picked his book back up. But, after a moment, he put it back down.

"Okay, real talk."

I snorted and almost choked on the sandwich. "'Real talk?'"

"Yeah," Tobias locked eyes with me. "How are you _actually_?"

I finished my sandwich. "What do you mean?"

"You, uh," He looked down, hesitating. I waited. "You had kind of a rough time the other day," he finally said.

"So did you," I reminded him.

He leaned forward. "I wasn't shot," he whispered.

I glared at him. He leaned back. I took a sip of water and kept glaring.

"You just don't seem yourself," he continued.

"How so?"

"Well," Tobias answered, "since we've started...being friends, question mark?"

I nodded. "Yes, Tobias, we're friends."

"Cool." Tobias started talking again. "Since we started being friends, I have found you to be…"

He paused. I motioned for him to continue. He looked down at himself. "Peppy, assertive, proud, and at times...domineering."

I opened my bag of chips and ate one. "Uh huh."

"Did I offend you?"

"Facts don't offend me."

"Oh. Good."

I ate another chip. "But?"

Tobias looked around, then locked eyes with me. "But you haven't been that way since we bailed the new kid out of trouble."

More code. Good. Ears were everywhere. "And?"

"And you got hit pretty hard."

_And I almost died._ "I'm fine," I told him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Because it's okay if - "

I cut him off with another glare. "I'm. Fine."

Tobias shrugged. "Okay. I just thought I'd ask."

I drank some more water. "Can we talk about something else?"

"So you're not fine."

"I said I was."

"If - "

"Stop."

He held his hands up. "Okay. You're fine."

"Thank you." I pointed a chip at Tobias' book. "What's that about?"

"It's, uh, _Fellowship of the Ring._"

"I know."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "So you know it?"

I nodded. "I've seen the movie."

He opened his mouth to speak. "If you ask me again if I'm okay," I told him, "I'm getting up."

Tobias closed his mouth. I pointed at _Fellowship_ again. "Tell me about your book."

He did. Turns out Tobias _really_ likes Lord of the Rings. I had zero interest in it, but I listened attentively as he rambled. It helped take my mind off of my nightmares. Almost.

I went through the rest of my day feeling like a caged animal. You ever see a big cat at the zoo, pacing its enclosure? Like that. I couldn't sit still. I spent my next classes sitting at my desk with an eye on the clock, watching the hands inch closer to three o'clock.

At two thirty, I couldn't take it anymore. I raised my hand. "Can I be excused?"

My teacher, Mr. Pendleton, looked down his nose at me? "Can it wait, Ms. _? We're in the middle of a lesson."

"Girl stuff."

"Ah." He pointed towards the door. "Make it quick."

As if. I practically ran past the bathrooms and headed for the auditorium. It was the last class of P.E. for the day, and most of the class was out either on the gym floor or the football field. I jetted past the bleachers and walked straight into boys' locker rooms, trying to look like I belonged.

They were deserted, except for the future dropouts smoking in the showers. I walked past the showers and out through the emergency exit, ignoring the ALARM WILL SOUND sign. Marco told us weeks ago that the alarm was busted. Once outside, I stripped and stuffed my clothes into my backpack.

The wind picked up. I shivered and dropped my bag behind a nearby bush. _You're being stupid,_ I told myself.

_Just shut up and morph,_ Other Rachel told me.

_Other Rachel?_ I laughed without humor. Clearly I'd been binging too much _Archer_ lately.

I closed my eyes, and focused my mind on the other of the three morphs I had acquired. When I opened my eyes again, I was falling.

Well, shrinking, actually. Smaller and smaller, with the ground racing up to my face like I'd jumped off a building. I had done this morph once before, so I was anticipating the size decrease, but it still made my stomach lurch.

My skin turned jet-black. Lines and patterns traced themselves across my blackened skin and rose up to form dark, glossy feathers.

My eyes slid apart and moved to opposite sides of my head. My vision went blurry for a moment, and then I could see in front, behind, and above me all at once.

My legs shriveled into sticks. My toes and heel formed into talons, resembling miniature Tyrannosaurus feet. My arms folded up against my sides, but my fingers extended out into bare, hollow bones.

_Ew._

Fortunately, more feathers grew to cover them, transforming the bones into a powerful pair of wings almost a full yard across.

The morph was finished. I spread my wings and took to the air. I was a crow. The reigning asshole of the skies.

I liked my crow morph almost as much as I liked my dog morph. Not as lethal, but loads of fun. Flying is great, and the crow was one conniving little shit. As I flapped over the school and out to the football field, my crow mind made note of every insect in the grass, of the lizard scuttling along the chain link fence, and wondered how best to chase my classmates off so it could eat them.

Gross, but still entertaining. I immersed myself in the crow's arrogant nature, and let it lift me out of my antsy mood.

I landed on the bleachers and cawed at some girl doing her math homework. She gave me a dirty look. I cawed at her again.

"I'm trying to work, here," Cassie growled.

Oh, wait. That _was_ Cassie. I was so focused on ditching class, I'd forgotten she had P.E. last period.

She was wearing the same ratty pair of jeans she wore yesterday. I hopped over and pecked at her thigh. She swatted at me.

[Those aren't the pants I bought you.]

I never knew someone could jump so high from a sitting position. Cassie's homework dropped from her legs and down under the bleachers. I cawed again.

"Rachel!"

[Hi! Keep your voice down.]

She looked around for a quick moment (the nearest kids were running down the track, away from us), then knelt down and glared at me. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

[What's it look like?]

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

[Shouldn't you be running laps?]

Cassie stuck her finger in my face. I considered pecking it. "And why are you in morph?"

[Because.]

"Because, why?"

I flared my wings at her. [I dunno, I thought it would be a good way to get the drop on the Andalite.]

"Aximili."

[Yeah, him.]

Cassie rolled her eyes. "We're supposed to be making friends with him, not 'getting the drop on' him."

[Speak for yourself,] I told her. [And go get your books and stop talking to me, you look weird as fuck right now.]

Cassie swatted me again. I flew away and circled around under the bleachers, landing on top of her books. Cassie made her way down to me.

"Rachel?"

[Yes?]

"What are you doing?"

I turned my head and looked up at her with one eye. [I thought I was meeting an Andalite to stop a worldwide invasion.]

Cassie sighed. "You know what I mean."

[I do?]

"Are you okay?"

[Why does everyone keep asking me that?]

Cassie crossed her arms. "Because you're acting strange."

[How am I acting strange?!]

"You've never cut class before," Cassie said to me.

[Why is cutting class strange?]

"You know what? Fine. Don't tell me what's going on." Cassie shooed me away from her books and picked them up. "I'm going to go change. Please don't do anything stupid before I get back."

[Like?]

"Like morph again." Cassie gathered up her things. "Where'd you leave your clothes?"

[Why?]

"So I can put them in my locker," Cassie answered patiently.

[In the bushes behind the boys' locker room.]

"Okay. I'll be right back." Cassie walked out from under the bleachers and left. As I watched her go.

Stupid. Why was I being bitchy to Cassie? I decided to make it up to her later.

I checked my surroundings. The school had put gravel underneath the bleachers, and had the fence built so that it extended partly behind them. Behind the fence was a densely wooded area that housed various critters, and homeless camps belonging to the sort of people that hung around Deathburg at night.

I flew up to the top of a nearby tree and looked out over Deathburg, the half-built mall where we had met Elfangor. All that separated it from the school was an overgrown parking lot and a fence with a hole cut into it. It was through there, that one fateful night, that a bullied Tobias had fled from my cousins and Marco, and I had gone to retrieve him.

Deathburg was also where the Controller who killed Tom had taken Jake and I, and where we killed him.

And now, we might be meeting our second Andalite. Elfangor's brother. Who killed another Controller and tried killing me.

_Does thinking about that make you feel better, Rachel?_

_It doesn`t, Other Rachel._

I spotted Jake, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco walking purposefully towards the football field from the gym. Hopefully a teacher wouldn't see them and think we were doing drugs back here.

I saw movement along the fence. A familiar-looking coyote approached the hole, and cautiously sniffed it before stepping through.

Ax.

The wind picked up again. I dropped down into the lower branches of the tree and waited for them all to reach me.


	10. Chapter 10: The Meeting

[My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.]

We made our introductions. Marco was sitting on his butt, back against the trunk of the tree I was perched in. Cassie was sitting too, but cross-legged under the overhang of the bleachers. Tobias was leaning against the aluminum supports, looking every bit like a kid that was too cool for school. And Jake was just standing there with his arms crossed, watching Ax.

My cousin. My friends. And Marco. The Animorphs. The only people in all the world who knew that we were being invaded by hostile extraterrestrials.

Officially introducing ourselves to an alien cosplaying a 'yote.

[I am a warrior of the Andalite people, serving as a starfighter pilot. I am assigned to the Sixty-Fourth War Fleet. Our fleet was formed specifically to hunt down Yeerk invasion fleets.] Ax the coyote sat up straighter. [We have safeguarded worlds from the Yeerks since they unleashed themselves upon the galaxy. We are the best fighting forces my people have to offer.]

"I hope not."

Ax looked over at Marco. [You hope not?]

"The Yeerks wrecked you guys," Marco explained. "Pretty easily, from what we've heard."

Tobias and Cassie gave Marco dirty looks. Jake rolled his eyes. "Marco, can you try keeping your mouth shut for five minutes? Please?"

Marco grinned. "One can hope."

[He makes a fair point, though] I supported. [Both Elfangor and Visser Three said the fleet was destroyed. How did that happen?]

Ax looked up at me. [You have faced Visser Three?]

"More like ran from Visser Three."

"Marco."

"Shutting up."

[Very few of our people have survived their encounters with him. Until this moment, I knew of only one who had.] Ax bowed his canine head. [You all have my respect.]

"We'd rather have guns or something."

"Seriously, Marco, stop talking.

Fortunately, Ax had apparently decided to ignore Marco completely. [He has murdered many of my people] Ax said to me. [My brother, Prince Elfangor, is the only Andalite I've known to fight Visser Three and survive. You said you've met with him. Where is he?]

Tobias spoke up. "He's -"

[You tell us what we want to know first] I answered, cutting Tobias off. [Afterwards, we'll tell you about Elfangor. That was our deal.]

Now Tobias was giving me a dirty look. I puffed out my feathers and thought, _Fine. I won't sit with him anymore._

Then, I noticed Jake and Cassie were glaring at me, too. But Marco looked up at me and winked.

[Our "deal" concerning my brother] Ax said icily, [was that you would tell me where he was if I hid from your...police with you. I believe I performed my end as expected.]

[And you nearly took my head off two minutes beforehand] I countered before anyone else could say something.

[You attacked me] Ax responded calmly.

[How do we know that -]

"Enough."

He said it so quietly. He didn't raise his voice. And he kept his tone passive and non-confrontational. Yet, somehow, someway, my cousin Jake, the kid brother I'd never had, actually shushed me.

"Aximili is an Andalite," Jake said. "He is part of the race that tried to save ours from annihilation. They failed, and a lot of good people died. Now, Ax is stranded on our planet, with no friends or allies, and surrounded on all sides by unseen enemies. And upon discovering the only humans on Earth that have both an idea of what's going on and a desire to fight the Yeerks, the only thing he has asked of us is what happened to the only family he has this side of the galaxy.

"The right thing to do here is to tell Ax what he wants to know. We're not going to dangle that information over his head for any reason. What we're going to do is honor the deal Cassie told me we made. Which is, tell him about Elfangor, how we came to acquire Andalite technology, and then Ax is going to show Cassie his pretty alien bird morph, and then we'll see if we like each other enough to form an alliance.

"But, spoiler alert," Jake finished as he glared up at me, "we're gonna. Because our groups both need each other and we've lost too much to the Yeerks already."

None of us really had anything to say to that.

Well, okay, I did. But obviously Jake wasn't in a mood to hear it.

"Your brother crash-landed in there," Jake said to Ax, pointing behind him to Deathburg. "We found him, and he nearly killed us. But he was hurt, and after we convinced him we weren't Controllers, he let us tend to his wounds. He told us about the Yeerks, and gave us the means to fight them. He also mentioned you and hoped that you were safe.

"When Visser Three showed up, Prince Elfangor fought hard so that we could escape. We got away, but...but Elfangor didn't make it. He gave his life for us."

Ax suddenly looked very much like a dog that had just been kicked. It was a little funny. But I guess even aliens don't like to lose family.

"I'm sorry," Jake told him.

Ax didn't reply. I almost felt sorry for him.

Finally, Ax said, [We...we pursued the largest of the Yeerk invasion fleets to your solar system, the fleet under direct command of Visser Three.] Ax looked down. [We thought we would be enough to destroy them. But Visser Three is as cunning as he is evil.]

He looked back up at us. [We knew that Yeerk engineers were building a new class of ship. One as swift as their fighters but with the firepower of our Dome ships. We thought they were cycles away from completing a prototype. But the Yeerks misled us. They had one such vessel hidden behind your moon. It decimated our fleet.]

"I'm sorry," Cassie said to him.

[My brother, our commander, knew we were losing. He took our fleet's Escafil device and had me escort him planetside so that we could form an insurgency and continue the fight. I was shot down and lost contact with him.] He looked to each of us. [I am pleased that his final mission was successful. What became of the device?]

"It was destroyed," Jake replied.

[How?]

"I'm not trying to be shitty," Marco answered, "but trust us on this one. You really don't want to know."

[As an Andalite warrior] Ax said, [I am sworn to keep our technology out of alien hands. I need to know how it was destroyed.]

[Visser Three ate it] I told him. More dirty looks, but I didn't care. [Elfangor was holding it at the time.]

He got that kicked-puppy look again. [I...see.]

[See, this is why people are worried about you] Cassie said to me privately. [Even Marco has more empathy than you.]

[I thought we were telling him everything] I shot back. Cassie didn't reply.

[Jake.]

"Yes, Ax?"

[It is as you said. I am alone. I believe that I am the last of my people in this system, if not this entire sector.] Ax walked up to him. [I want you to know that I appreciate your understanding.]

Jake squirmed a bit. "You're welcome."

[But I must ask you for more.]

"Anything you need," Tobias said instantly.

"Depends on what it is," Jake corrected. "But if it hurts the Yeerks, we'll all do whatever we can."

_Speak for yourself, cousin._

[I need to repair my ship] Ax said. [I crashed in your forest and I cannot get my fighter airborne. I ventured into your settlement yesterday to find supplies, but my mission was unsuccessful. If you can help me, I would be in your debt.]

[Ask him to unlock the disk] I told Jake privately.

Jake shook his head. "I won't make promises we can't keep. I'm pretty sure none of us knows anything about patching up spaceships."

"I might have slept through that class," Marco joked.

"Couldn't hurt to try, though," Cassie supplied.

"No. I suppose it couldn't." Jake crossed his arms and looked down at Ax. "And, if nothing else, we could show you where humans go to repair our, um, vehicles. But either way, Ax, I can't guarantee anything."

[I understand. Your honesty is commendable.] Ax thought for a moment. [It might be simpler to steal a Yeerk ship, instead.]

"Wait." Marco sat up. "Steal what, now?"

Tobias frowned. "That's ballsy."

"No." Marco shook his head. "That's insane. Where would we even find one?"

[We would simply call it] Ax answered. [Duplicating a Yeerk distress signal is rudimentary enough. Yeerk dropships are lightly manned and Z-capable. We could commandeer one easily.]

"Nonononono," Marco told him. "No. Out of the question. Too much risk, not enough reward."

"He needs help, Marco," Cassie said to him. "He's stranded. We should try to help him get home."

"Agreed," Tobias said in support. "Like Jake said. This is the right thing to do."

"No."

I cocked my head at Jake. We all looked at him, confused. But Jake shook his head. "I'm with Marco on this. Ax, I believe you when you say it'll be easy, but I think you're wrong. We don't have weapons, and we don't have the morphs. It's not possible with our current resources. The most dangerous morph we have is Rachel's dog."

"Not true," Cassie said. "You forget, my parents' farm keeps steer. I actually acquired one last night. We have access to big morphs."

Jake shook his head again. "I still think it's too risky."

[It's not, though.]

I dropped to the ground next to Ax, surprising everyone. Including myself.

[We're supposed to be fighting a war, right?] I rotated around to address them all. [We're going to need reinforcements, sooner or later. If Ax can make it home, maybe he can get the Andalites to fly out here a little faster. So let's help him out. Let's do it.]

Marco didn't look anywhere near convinced. But Jake relented.

"Alright, Ax. Let's steal a ship."

[Thank you.]

I focused on Cassie. [Happy now?]

She wasn't. But I knew she wouldn't be. She knows me well enough that she knew I didn't want to help Ax just because I'm a good person.

I wanted Ax gone. And launching him light-years into space sounded like the best way to make that happen.


	11. Chapter 11: The Planning

"Okay, so we're hijacking a spaceship," Marco announced. "How are we gonna do that?"

Ax looked to each of us. [What weapons do you have at your disposal?]

"Morphing," Jake told him. "That's it."

[What morphs do you have?] Ax asked him. [Have you acquired the forms of any of the races the Yeerks have enslaved?]

Jake shook his head. "No. But we're not completely helpless. You?"

[Since my arrival on this planet, I have acquired morphs for hiding and travel] Ax said. [The one your people call a rat, and this creature.]

[That's called a coyote.]

Ax looked up at me. [Your flying morphs would be better suited for scouting this world. I have seen many such lifeforms, but have been unable to procure one. I believe that my khaffit bird would be too conspicuous.]

"No problem," Tobias told him. "We can all go to Cassie's and grab you a crow morph." He looked over at Cassie. "Assuming you still have it, anyway."

Cassie shook her head. "We released her earlier this week."

[My "coyote" should remain adequate.]

"What about your family's steer, Cassie?" Jake asked her. "Seems to me we could all grab one easy enough."

"That's a bad idea," Marco said.

"Why?" Tobias asked him. "Jake was right. We need bigger morphs. And a herd of cows should - "

"Exactly," Marco said. "A herd. As in, we all morphed the same, what…" Marco gave Cassie a questioning look. "Three cows?"

"Two. And they're steer, now cows." Cassie shrugged. "So?"

But I knew what Marco was getting at. [So Cass, if your neighbors come by, or someone drops off an injured animal, and they're a Controller who saw us hijack a Yeerk ship, what will they think when they see those same steer grazing on your land?]

Cassie hung her head. "Oh."

"Remember kids," Marco said to us, "we're only paranoid when we're wrong."

[Our enemies could be anywhere] Ax agreed. [Anyone.]

[We're well aware] I told him.

"What's the difference between a steer and a cow?" Tobias asked Cassie.

"Cows are for dairy," Cassie answered, "and steer are for meat. Steer are neutered bulls that are raised for slaughter."

"Big Macs," Marco joked. "Big Macs, one and all."

[I believe I have seen your "steer,"] Ax said to her. [They appear quite docile.]

I filed that bit on information away. Ax was scouting local farms and ranches out by Cassie's place. He might have found something to use against us.

"They're neutered to keep them calmer," Cassie explained, "because bulls are dangerous to keep contained. I acquired one after…" Cassie looked from me to Jake, "you- know-what. Just in case. But I haven't tested it yet."

[What is a "bull?"]

"One sec." Jake pulled out his phone and started texting. After a minute, he turned the phone around to show Ax. From my spot on the ground, I could see the familiar header for YouTube. Jake was showing Ax a video of a Spanish bullfight.

[...And your people prey upon these animals?]

"Well," Cassie said, "some of us."

[Intriguing.] Ax's coyote features appeared transfixed. [The bull could destroy that human in an instant, yet he wields only a cloth and primitive weapons and appears to be winning. The Yeerks were right to target this planet.]

"We're flattered," Marco said sarcastically. Jake put his phone away.

[If your home would be endangered] Ax said, [is there another location we could acquire bull morphs? Unlike your steer, they seem useful.]

"They're the same animal, Ax," Cassie explained again. "They've just been altered."

[How so?]

"They were neutered."

[What is "neutered?"]

Marco smirked. "They had their testicles removed," Cassie told Ax. "As they grow, you - "

"I think he gets the picture," Jake interrupted. "Let's try to stay on subject."

"Please," Tobias said.

[I do not wish to know more] Ax said to Cassie. My birdy eyes rolled.

Cassie snorted. "It's not as bad as it sounds. But I know how boys get when they hear about it."

"Moving right along," Jake continued. "We need bigger morphs. We lucked out when we fought those centipede-things as crows, but I don't relish our chances against those Hork-Bajir."

"Or if Visser Threee turns into another giant, fuck-off monster," Marco reminded us.

"So." Jake clapped his hands. "Where can we find big morphs?"

Tobias raised his hand. "One of the big ranches? Wouldn't endanger Cassie at all."

[We don't know if any of the ranches or their hands are Controllers] I said.

"And every rancher worth their cattle keeps their fields under constant watch," Cassie said. She looked at Ax. "Especially for coyotes. No way we'd get in or out without being seen, either by a ranch hand or a game camera."

"Aren't those for hunting?" Tobias questioned.

"They're also excellent for figuring out how raccoons keep running off with your chickens," Cassie answered. "Trust me. Every homesteader has them, and we won't see them."

"Okay, no cow tipping for us," Jake said. "So where else? What can we get to that could wreck Visser Three?"

No one said anything for a few moments. Then…

"Oh, man," Marco finally moaned.

[What?] I asked him.

"I know where." Marco shook his head. "Fuck me and my genius intellect."

[Excuse me? Your what?]

"What did you come up with, Marco?" Jake asked him.

"The zoo in the Bay, man," Marco said. "The Gardens. Remember back in third grade when we went on that field trip? They've got lions and tigers and all sorts of things."

"Oh my," Cassie said with a smile.

Tobias snapped his fingers. "Of course! Why didn't we think of that?"

"Because you have to actually touch a tiger to acquire it," Marco said.

"Oh." Tobias sagged. "Right."

[Doesn't matter] I instantly said. [Ax needs to go home, and we've had too many close calls already. We need combat morphs. It's worth the risk.]

"You just want to morph an elephant and stomp on stuff," Marco accused me.

"Okay," Jake said. "We'll all hit the Gardens this weekend. Cassie, can you drive?"

"Sure." Cassie stood up, sensing the meeting was wrapping up. "Mom will be thrilled that I'm taking my friends to study animals."

[I will await your return] Ax announced.

I cocked my head at him. [You're not coming?]

[I believe my own body will be more than efficient for our task.] Ax stood up as well. [Shall we meet again here three days from now? At the same time?]

I did math in my head. That was Sunday afternoon. "Sounds good," Jake said. "It was an honor to meet you, Aximili."

[But remember] I told Ax. [This is a favor. You owe us.]

[I will not forget] Ax said evenly. He trotted off into the brush.

Once he was gone, Jake glared at me. "Could you try being a little less hostile towards him?"

[Spare me.] I flapped up into the tree. [He didn't try to murder you.]

"We attacked him, Rachel!" Tobias exclaimed.

[And in less than twelve seconds, he killed a Controller with a gun, and almost you and me along with her!] I could still see the woman's body bleeding out all over the food court. [Ax is dangerous. Why can't any of you see that?]

Marco raised his hand. "I can."

[Thank you, Marco.]

"You're welcome."

"He means us no harm," Cassie said me. "You don't have to be scared of him,"

God help me, I wanted to punch her in the throat right then and there. [I'm not scared of Ax] I said slowly, struggling to stay calm. [I just think we have every reason not to trust him completely.]

"We're not," Jake said. "We haven't told him about the disk. And he hasn't told us everything about him, either. But you need to relax. You're attitude could mess this up for everyone involved."

[Baby steps] I said. [That's all I'm asking.]

That was a lie. They all knew it. But no one said anything. The meeting broke up. I went back to the locker rooms, demorphed and got dressed, and Cassie took me home without another word.


	12. The Cracks

There was a surprise waiting for me when Cassie pulled up to my house. The garage door was open, and my dad's car was inside. That was unusual; his patrol shift ran from two in the afternoon to ten o' clock at night, so Dad should have been at work.

But what was more unusual was the cherry-red Miata parked in the driveway. I recognized it immediately. It was my mom's car.

Cassie parked on the curb. She noticed the vehicles as soon as I did. Cassie knew what they meant, too. "You didn't tell me your mom was in town," Cassie said as she shut off the engine.

I shrugged, trying to act casual. "I didn't know she was."

As I said before, my parents were divorced. They have been for a while now, since I was just starting middle school. Mom got offered a job in the Bay, a few hours away from where I live, and wanted to pack us all up and move there. But Dad didn't want to go, and didn't want Jordan and I to go, either. My parents fought about it, and I guess it destroyed their relationship. They got divorced, and Mom moved on to her new job.

I'm sorry, I don't really know the details. Dad doesn't like talking about it. Mom does, but even though she lives just down the interstate, I only see her on holidays. She drives up, drops off whatever expensive gifts she bought Jordan and I, then cooks a big dinner and leaves the following morning.

It never really bothered me. But I know Jordan takes issue with Mom never being here, and when Mom actually is, Dad does his best not to talk to her. I love seeing Mom, but the atmosphere in the house feels...hostile when she's around.

And she never just shows up. Mom always calls me or Jordan a few days before she visits.

I got out of the van and heard Chance barking. Cassie followed me. The front door opened and Mom stepped out. She was wearing makeup and heels, with a black pantsuit and a pearl necklace. She must have come here straight from court or something. I smiled and waved.

"Where have you been?" she asked sharply.

I felt my smile drop. "School?"

Mom started stomping towards me, heels and all. "That's a question, not an answer."

Mom may have been a no-nonsense lawyer, but Jake's mom was the DA, and my aunt on Dad's side. And Jake, Jordan, and I have been bullshitting Aunt Jeanie since Jake and I were twelve.

"I was at school, Mom," I answered casually. "With Jake and Cassie. You remember Cassie."

Cassie waved, too. "Hi, Ms. _."

Mom came up to me and grabbed my wrist. "Don't lie to me!"

"Hey!"

I tugged, trying to free myself. Cassie started towards us.

"Let go!" I shouted.

"Answer me!"

Chance was still barking. Frantically. I grabbed Mom's wrist and shoved on it, hoping to slip my arm out of her grip. Heavy footsteps, and the sound of claws clicking on drywall, echoed from the open door.

"Naomi, stop!"

I looked up just in time to see Dad catch Chance at the door. Chance was going nuts. Dad had him by the collar and was struggling to pull Chance back into the house. Chance was trying just as hard to get to me.

No. To Mom. Chance thought she was hurting me.

I stopped struggling instantly. Dad shouted out Chance's command for healing, and finally got him to back off. I could see Jordan standing just inside as Dad pulled Chance back into the house. Her eyes were wide.

I glared at Mom. "Let me go."

She glared back. "Not until you tell me where you've been all afternoon."

"She was at school," Cassie answered for me. "With Jake and me."

"It's true, Mom," Jordan confirmed. "Aunt Jeanie texted Dad right when they got here. They were doing homework with Jake and his friends."

I silently thanked Jake for the cover story. "Like I said," I said evenly. "School."

Mom didn't budge. "Homework for what class?"

_Why does it matter?_ I gave her my best shit-eating grin. "It was a group project. We were studying anatomy."

Mom narrowed her eyes. "What was the project?"

I wrenched myself loose. "The reproductive system. We were having sex."

"Okay!" Cassie got between me and Mom and pushed me towards the house. "Let's just get inside."

I winked at Jordan as I walked past her into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes. Mom followed and closed the door behind us.

There was a pot of boiling water on the stove, and a box of dried pasta on the counter. Bowls and silverware were already set out on the table. I grabbed another bowl and fork, set out an additional placemat, and caught Cassie's eye. She understood my intent, and nodded.

Dad came into the kitchen, sans Chance, and saw Cassie and the extra bowl. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Cassie? We're having chicken parmesan."

"I'd love to. Thank you." Cassie pulled out her phone and stepped into the next room. "Let me just text my folks."

Jordan dumped the pasta into the pot. Dad went to the fridge and pulled out a bag of flour and a stick of butter. I grabbed a frying pan and put it on the stove next to the pot.

Mom watched us, arms crossed. "You had us worried, Rachel."

I took the flour from Dad and dropped the butter into the pan, and turned up the heat. "Why?"

"Why?" Mom looked at me like I had said something wrong. "Because that's what happens when you disappear. People worry about you."

"Only your mother was worried, sweety," Dad said to me. He dropped a jug of milk and bag of shredded parmesan cheese on the counter, and kissed my cheek. "I knew you were fine."

Mom gave him an angry look. "Thank you, Paul. I appreciate your support."

"It was only an hour," Dad said to her. "Rachel was only gone an hour. She disappears all the time, and - "

"All the time?" Mom shrieked. I rolled my eyes and mixed measurements of flour into the butter. "Our oldest daughter has been blown up, Paul," she continued. "She has been kidnapped, and shot at, in the last two weeks alone. And you're not worried about what she gets up to at all?"

Dad glared at her. "Of course I am. That's why I called you. But this isn't how you talk to her."

"Don't tell me how to talk to my daughter!"

"Mom," Jordan said quietly. "Give Rachel some space. She's having a rough time."

"Rachel can speak for herself." I splashed some milk in with the flour and butter, and eyeballed my sister. Jordan stirred her pot of pasta and didn't look up. But her face grew as red as Mom's car.

Cassie was standing outside the kitchen, looking like she wanted to be somewhere else.

Mom walked up behind me. "Rachel, honey? What's going on with you? Are you in trouble?"

The milk, butter, and flour had thickened into a rue. I tossed in a handful of cheese. "Mom, I'm fine. Honest."

"Are you sure?" she asked me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

_Let one more person ask me that today._ "Mom, I'm going to burn this sauce if you keep distracting me. Please just leave me alone."

Mom stepped back like I slapped her. But I hadn't. I looked back at her, confused. "What's wrong?"

Mom blinked. Her eyes looked wet. "Nothing, Rachel. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"And grabbing me?"

"What?"

I cocked my head. "You grabbed me. It was embarrassing."

Mom looked down at the kitchen floor. "I'm sorry I grabbed you."

Jordan put her spoon down. "Pasta's done."

A timer went off. "Chicken, too," Dad announced.

I picked up the frying pan. "And the sauce."

Everyone was acting strange. Awkward visits from Mom were one thing. But my parents have never been physical with me. Or talked about me like I wasn't there. And historically, Dad has always been more mad than worried whenever he didn't know where I was. That was more common than I liked, moreso since my friends and I went running off into Deathburg, but Dad still respected my space.

And Jordan? We've never had issues before. But she's been acting like we did since -

_Since Tom died._

Since I sent her running for help when a Controller posing as Dad's friend from work attacked us.

_He shot your cousin dead, put a gun to your head, threw you into the trunk of his car, and you couldn't do anything to stop him._

Was...was Jordan angry about that?

I was protecting her!

I sat down at the table, seething. That must have been why she was talking about me behind my back to Dad. What was she telling Dad to make him so worried he'd call Mom? Did he think I was doing drugs or something.

I mean, I joke about getting knocked up constantly. So it might be my fault. But still.

I'm sixteen. Hell, I'm a goddamned freedom fighter. Marco calls me Khaleesi because I remind him of Daenerys from _Game of Thrones._ I can take care of myself.

_You were dead on the floor not two days ago._

"Rachel?"

I looked up. Jordan, Mom, Dad, and Cassie were all staring at me. Dad was holding a heaping spoonful of chicken parm.

"I asked for your bowl, sweetheart," Dad told me.

My stomach growled. But I'd lost my appetite. I stood up and walked out of the kitchen.

"Rachel?"

"Rachel!"

I ignored their calls. I went upstairs to my room and locked the door behind me. I collapsed on my bed and rolled onto my back.

The room felt stuffy. I got back up, turned on the ceiling fan, and laid back down.

_You were dead. You died_.

Movement over my head. A flash of blue and silver.

Ax!

I rolled off the bed and into a crouch, ready to fight. No, I couldn't fight as a human. My hands started forming into paws before I realized I was morphing.

I stopped. My room was empty. The only thing moving was the ceiling fan above me.

I reversed the morph and stood up straight. There was a knock on the door.

"Rachel?" Cassie's voice. "Are you okay?"

I ripped my pillow from the bed and threw it against the door. "I'M FINE!"

Long pause.

"Okay." Cassie paused again. "I'm going to head home. I'll see you tomorrow morning."


End file.
